Chain of Command

I’ve been looking for a set of WW2 rules for a couple of different scales, first for my 15mm figures I am looking for something which gives a game that is approx 1:1, and secondly, I am after something for larger combined arms games using my 10mm figures, of which I have gazillions.

I am settled on going back toSpearhead for the larger games, and will write about this later in the year once I’ve done some rebasing, but for now, I am taking a look at Chain of Command from Too Fat Lardies.

I’ve been reading the Chain of Command rules now for a few weeks, and what I particularly like is that the ground scale is 12″ = 40 Yards, meaning 15mm is 2 yards…almost exactly the correct groundscale for 15mm figures. Box duly ticked!

I put together a small game as a rules tryout, using the Patrol Scenario (number one in the rulebook).

Forces

They had 3 support points, and took an adjutant and a Panzerschreck Team (2 man crew).

Russians were:

PLATOON HQ: Senior Leader with Pistol

SQUADS x3: Junior Leader with SMG; LMG with 2 Crew; 7 Riflemen

They had 6 support points and took a T34/76.

The Game

After the patrol face, and jump off points sorted, Russians took the first go – they managed to establish a very early firebase in the woods, covering quite a wide area. The Germans were always on the back foot, and the German player missed an opportunity to establish two firebases to target the woods.

It is easy to under-estimate how much this affected the game…the German player spent the rest of the battle playing catch-up, and lost numerous troops whilst trying to do this…the one bright spot being the destroying of the Russian tank with a panzerschreck, used in ambush with a CoC Dice….it wasn’t just destroyed, it actually exploded showering an adjacent rifle team with bits of metal!

Eventually though, the Russian fire ground down the Germans, and that was that.

Conclusions

I made a couple of mistakes in the game, the main ones being forgetting the German national characteristic, which would have helped with firepower, and also that the Panzerschreck team should have been included, so more support points were available than they had.

Overall though, we all enjoyed the game – historical tactics are rewarded, and unlike some games, you can’t just run across an open field, or use your tanks unsupported!